Zero-step authentication of transactions using passive biometrics

ABSTRACT

A zero-step authentication system and method which uses wireless mobile devices to automatically make payments in a secure manner without requiring the customer to handle his or her mobile device. The system and method use a payment facilitation device at the business location which automatically detects and recognizes registered mobile devices, displays a photo of the customer to a business employee for identity confirmation, and automatically deducts payments for purchases from a pre-authorized customer account. The customer account is managed by a payment processing server, which stores the customer account data, makes appropriate deductions, sends confirmation of deductions to the customer&#39;s mobile device, and automatically refills the customer&#39;s account by making pre-authorized charges to the customer&#39;s banking institution.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Application No. Date Filed Title Current Herewith SYSTEM AND METHOD FORTHIRD- application PARTY FOOD AND DINING ORDERING CONTROL Claims benefitof, and priority to: 62/964,422 Jan. 22, 2020 ZERO-STEP AUTHENTICATIONOF TRANSACTIONS USING PASSIVE BIOMETRICS and is also acontinuation-in-part of: 17/005,038 Aug. 27, 2020 SYSTEM AND METHOD FORTHIRD- PARTY FOOD AND DINING ORDERING CONTROL which claims benefit of,and priority to: 62/964,413 Jan. 22, 2020 SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THIRD-PARTY FOOD AND DINING ORDERING CONTROL and is also acontinuation-in-part of: 16/796,342 Feb. 20, 2020 ZERO-STEPAUTHENTICATION USING WIRELESS-ENABLED MOBILE DEVICES which claimsbenefit of, and priority to: 62/938,817 Nov. 21, 2019 ZERO-STEPAUTHENTICATION USING WIRELESS-ENABLED MOBILE DEVICES the entirespecification of each of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND Field of the Art

The disclosure relates to the field of payment systems, and moreparticularly to the field of automated payment systems usingwireless-enabled mobile devices.

Discussion of the State of the Art

Wireless mobile computing devices (e.g., smartphones) have enabledwireless payment technologies wherein the consumer makes a payment byreceiving a payment request on the customer's mobile device andauthorizing the payment by tapping an icon on the screen. However, suchtechnologies require the customer to remove his or her mobile devicefrom a pocket or bag, turn on the device, enter a passcode to open thedevice, and tap on the screen to approve payment or scan a QR code shownon the screen. These steps are inefficient and interfere with thebusiness/customer interaction, as the customer's attention is focused onhis or her mobile device instead of the interaction with the businessenvironment or the business' employees. These systems do not providetouchless payments with sufficient security, are not compatible withexisting business methodologies and cultures, and interfere with thebusiness/customer interaction. Further, biometric security in the fieldof mobile devices frequently relies on fingerprint analysis or, again,requires a user to pull out their phone to scan their face, furtherinterfering with the business/customer interaction.

What is needed is a system and method for touchless payments that doesnot require the customer to handle his or her mobile device, whichprovides sufficient security, which is compatible with existing businessmethodologies and cultures, which integrates seamless biometricverifications, and which does not interfere with the business/customerinteraction.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, the inventor has conceived and reduced to practice, asystem and method zero-step authentication of transactions usingbiometrics which uses wireless mobile devices and biometric scanning toautomatically make payments in a secure manner without requiring thecustomer to handle his or her mobile device. The system and method usepassive biometrics and a payment facilitation device at the businesslocation which automatically detects and recognizes registered mobiledevices, displays a photo of the customer to a business employee foridentity confirmation, verifies the customer with a biometricsverification database, and automatically deducts payments for purchasesfrom a pre-authorized customer account. The customer account is managedby a payment processing server, which stores the customer account data,makes appropriate deductions, sends confirmation of deductions to thecustomer's mobile device, and automatically refills the customer'saccount by making pre-authorized charges to the customer's bankinginstitution. Biometric data is handled by a biometrics verificationserver which handles storage and comparison of basic biometric data suchas voice files and facial data.

According to a preferred embodiment, a system for zero-stepauthentication of transactions is disclosed, comprising: a databasecomprising customer information, the customer information comprising: alist of registered wireless mobile devices; a device identifier for eachregistered wireless mobile device; a photograph of a customer associatedwith each registered wireless mobile device; a pre-paid account balancefor each registered wireless mobile device; and payment details for thecustomer associated with each registered wireless mobile device; and apayment facilitation device comprising a first memory, a firstprocessor, and a first plurality of programming instructions stored inthe first memory, and operating on the first processor, wherein thefirst plurality of programming instructions, when operating on theprocessor, cause the payment facilitation device to: detect a registeredwireless mobile device; establish a wireless connection with theregistered wireless mobile device; obtain a device identifier for theregistered wireless mobile device; send the device identifier to apayment facilitation server; receive customer information for theregistered wireless mobile device from the payment facilitation server;display the photograph of the customer associated with the registeredwireless mobile device for confirmation of the identity of the customer;transmit transaction details to the registered wireless mobile devicefor approval, the transaction details comprising a transaction amount;receive authentication of the transaction details from the customermobile device; and send the transaction details to a paymentfacilitation server for processing of the transaction; a paymentfacilitation server comprising a second memory, a second processor, anda second plurality of programming instructions stored in the secondmemory, and operating on the second processor, wherein the secondplurality of programming instructions, when operating on the secondprocessor, cause the payment facilitation server to: receive the deviceidentifier from the payment facilitation device; retrieve the customerinformation associated with the registered wireless mobile device fromthe database; send the customer information to the payment facilitationdevice; receive the transaction details from the payment facilitationdevice; check the pre-paid account balance of the customer associatedwith the registered wireless mobile device; if the account balanceexceeds transaction amount, deduct the transaction amount from theaccount balance; or if the transaction amount exceeds the accountbalance, send the transaction details to a payment processor forprocessing; at least one of either or both of an audio or video inputdevice; and a biometrics verification server comprising a third memory,a third processor, and a third plurality of programming instructionsstored in the third memory, and operating on the third processor,wherein the third plurality of programming instructions, when operatingon the third processor, cause the biometrics verification server to:receive either or both audio or video data from an input source over anetwork; process the received data as either or both voice or facialbiometric data; match received data with stored data; and respond with apositive or negative match to the input source.

According to another preferred embodiment, a method for zero-stepauthentication of transactions is disclosed, comprising the steps of:storing customer information in a database, the customer informationcomprising: a list of registered wireless mobile devices; a deviceidentifier for each registered wireless mobile device; a photograph of acustomer associated with each registered wireless mobile device; apre-paid account balance for each registered wireless mobile device; andpayment details for the customer associated with each registeredwireless mobile device; and performing the following steps using apayment facilitation device, the payment facilitation device comprisinga first memory, a first processor, and a first plurality of programminginstructions: detecting a registered wireless mobile device;establishing a wireless connection with the registered wireless mobiledevice; obtaining a device identifier for the registered wireless mobiledevice; sending the device identifier to a payment facilitation server;receiving customer information for the registered wireless mobile devicefrom the payment facilitation server; displaying the photograph of thecustomer associated with the registered wireless mobile device forconfirmation of the identity of the customer; transmitting transactiondetails to the registered wireless mobile device for approval, thetransaction details comprising a transaction amount; receivingauthentication of the transaction details from the customer mobiledevice; and sending the transaction details to a payment facilitationserver for processing of the transaction; and performing the followingsteps using a payment facilitation server, the payment facilitationserver comprising a second memory, a second processor, and a secondplurality of programming instructions: receiving the device identifierfrom the payment facilitation device; retrieving the customerinformation associated with the registered wireless mobile device fromthe database; sending the customer information to the paymentfacilitation device; receiving the transaction details from the paymentfacilitation device; checking the pre-paid account balance of thecustomer associated with the registered wireless mobile device; if theaccount balance exceeds transaction amount, deducting the transactionamount from the account balance; or if the transaction amount exceedsthe account balance, sending the transaction details to a paymentprocessor for processing; receiving audio or video input, from at leastone of either or both of an audio or video input device; receiving audioor video data from an input source over a network, using a biometricsverification server; processing the received data as voice or facialbiometric data, using a biometrics verification server; matchingreceived data with stored data, using a biometrics verification server;and responding with a positive or negative match to the input source,using a biometrics verification server.

According to an aspect of an embodiment, a unified communications systemis used as a common intermediary device through which the paymentfacilitation device, the payment facilitation server, and registeredwireless mobile device communicate.

According to an aspect of an embodiment, the at least one audio or videoinput device and biometrics verification server are all located on atleast one computer device that is connected to a local network.

According to an aspect of an embodiment, the biometrics verificationserver receives input and sends output over the Internet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

The accompanying drawings illustrate several aspects and, together withthe description, serve to explain the principles of the inventionaccording to the aspects. It will be appreciated by one skilled in theart that the particular arrangements illustrated in the drawings aremerely exemplary, and are not to be considered as limiting of the scopeof the invention or the claims herein in any way.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system architecturefor a zero-step authentication system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary architecture for anaspect of zero-step authentication system, the payment facilitationserver.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary flow of payments inan embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary business/customerinteraction and showing an exemplary screenshot.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary bill splitting feature andshowing an exemplary screenshot.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing the steps of an exemplary method forregistration of a customer's mobile device and order placement.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing the steps of an exemplary method forzero-step authentication and completion of a transaction.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram showing the steps of an exemplary method forestablishment of an account and pre-authorization of payments.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram showing the steps of an exemplary method forbill splitting among customers.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram showing the steps of an exemplary method forfunds transfer among customers.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary hardwarearchitecture of a computing device.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary logicalarchitecture for a client device.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing an exemplary architecturalarrangement of clients, servers, and external services.

FIG. 14 is another block diagram illustrating an exemplary hardwarearchitecture of a computing device.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system architecturefor a zero-step authentication system using biometric authentication.

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram showing the steps of an exemplary method forzero-step authentication using biometrics and completion of atransaction.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The inventor has conceived, and reduced to practice, a system and methodzero-step authentication of transactions using biometrics which useswireless mobile devices and biometric scanning to automatically makepayments in a secure manner without requiring the customer to handle hisor her mobile device. The system and method use passive biometrics and apayment facilitation device at the business location which automaticallydetects and recognizes registered mobile devices, displays a photo ofthe customer to a business employee for identity confirmation, verifiesthe customer with a biometrics verification database, and automaticallydeducts payments for purchases from a pre-authorized customer account.The customer account is managed by a payment processing server, whichstores the customer account data, makes appropriate deductions, sendsconfirmation of deductions to the customer's mobile device, andautomatically refills the customer's account by making pre-authorizedcharges to the customer's banking institution. Biometric data is handledby a biometrics verification server which handles storage and comparisonof basic biometric data such as voice files and facial data.

Because the customer does not have to focus on his or her mobile device,the customer is free to interact naturally with the business environmentand with employees of the business. For example, the customer is free tolook around to experience the store's ambiance, which will tend tocreate a positive impression on the customer, and increase thelikelihood that the customer will wish to return. Further, the customeris free to look at and speak with the business' employees, whichfacilitates personal interactions and relationships, making the customerfeel more welcome and also increasing the likelihood that the customerwill wish to return. These natural interactions are hindered by thehandling and use of mobile phones, where the customer's attention isdrawn away from the business environment and its employees in order tofocus on the details of making or approving the transaction using his orher mobile device.

While the examples herein primarily discuss authorization of payments,the invention is not limited to authorization of monetary transactions,and can be used for authorization and transfer of any asset, orrepresentation of an asset, that can be transferred electronically, forexample: electronic transfers of real currency (credit card charges,bank transfers and payments, etc.), transfers of blockchain-basedcurrencies such as Bitcoin, and transfers of digitized contracts orpromises to pay or transfer physical assets (including, but not limitedto, IOUs, certificates of ownership of stocks or other securities, anddeeds for real estate).

One or more different aspects may be described in the presentapplication. Further, for one or more of the aspects described herein,numerous alternative arrangements may be described; it should beappreciated that these are presented for illustrative purposes only andare not limiting of the aspects contained herein or the claims presentedherein in any way. One or more of the arrangements may be widelyapplicable to numerous aspects, as may be readily apparent from thedisclosure. In general, arrangements are described in sufficient detailto enable those skilled in the art to practice one or more of theaspects, and it should be appreciated that other arrangements may beutilized and that structural, logical, software, electrical and otherchanges may be made without departing from the scope of the particularaspects. Particular features of one or more of the aspects describedherein may be described with reference to one or more particular aspectsor figures that form a part of the present disclosure, and in which areshown, by way of illustration, specific arrangements of one or more ofthe aspects. It should be appreciated, however, that such features arenot limited to usage in the one or more particular aspects or figureswith reference to which they are described. The present disclosure isneither a literal description of all arrangements of one or more of theaspects nor a listing of features of one or more of the aspects thatmust be present in all arrangements.

Headings of sections provided in this patent application and the titleof this patent application are for convenience only, and are not to betaken as limiting the disclosure in any way.

Devices that are in communication with each other need not be incontinuous communication with each other, unless expressly specifiedotherwise. In addition, devices that are in communication with eachother may communicate directly or indirectly through one or morecommunication means or intermediaries, logical or physical.

A description of an aspect with several components in communication witheach other does not imply that all such components are required. To thecontrary, a variety of optional components may be described toillustrate a wide variety of possible aspects and in order to more fullyillustrate one or more aspects. Similarly, although process steps,method steps, algorithms or the like may be described in a sequentialorder, such processes, methods and algorithms may generally beconfigured to work in alternate orders, unless specifically stated tothe contrary. In other words, any sequence or order of steps that may bedescribed in this patent application does not, in and of itself,indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in that order. Thesteps of described processes may be performed in any order practical.Further, some steps may be performed simultaneously despite beingdescribed or implied as occurring non-simultaneously (e.g., because onestep is described after the other step). Moreover, the illustration of aprocess by its depiction in a drawing does not imply that theillustrated process is exclusive of other variations and modificationsthereto, does not imply that the illustrated process or any of its stepsare necessary to one or more of the aspects, and does not imply that theillustrated process is preferred. Also, steps are generally describedonce per aspect, but this does not mean they must occur once, or thatthey may only occur once each time a process, method, or algorithm iscarried out or executed. Some steps may be omitted in some aspects orsome occurrences, or some steps may be executed more than once in agiven aspect or occurrence.

When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readilyapparent that more than one device or article may be used in place of asingle device or article. Similarly, where more than one device orarticle is described herein, it will be readily apparent that a singledevice or article may be used in place of the more than one device orarticle.

The functionality or the features of a device may be alternativelyembodied by one or more other devices that are not explicitly describedas having such functionality or features. Thus, other aspects need notinclude the device itself.

Techniques and mechanisms described or referenced herein will sometimesbe described in singular form for clarity. However, it should beappreciated that particular aspects may include multiple iterations of atechnique or multiple instantiations of a mechanism unless notedotherwise. Process descriptions or blocks in figures should beunderstood as representing modules, segments, or portions of code whichinclude one or more executable instructions for implementing specificlogical functions or steps in the process. Alternate implementations areincluded within the scope of various aspects in which, for example,functions may be executed out of order from that shown or discussed,including substantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending onthe functionality involved, as would be understood by those havingordinary skill in the art.

Definitions

“Business establishment” or “place of business” as used herein mean thelocation of any business entity with which customers may transactbusiness. Typically, this will be a physical location where customersmay enter the location and transact business directly with employees ofthe business, but may also be a business without a physical locationsuch as an online or telephone order retailer. Many examples herein usea restaurant as the business establishment, but the invention is notlimited to use in restaurants, and is applicable to any businessestablishment.

The term “network” as used herein means any communication connectionbetween two or more computing devices, whether such connection is madedirectly (e.g., from one device containing a Bluetooth radio to anotherdevice containing a Bluetooth radio) or through an intermediary devicesuch as a router, where a number of devices connected to the router mayall communicate with one another.

Conceptual Architecture

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system architecture100 for a zero-step authentication system. The primary components of thesystem are a payment facilitation device 103, a unified communicationsdevice or telephony exchange system (UC system) 101, and a paymentfacilitation server 200. Components or services that may connect to orbe accessed by the system include wireless customer mobile devices 102,and payment processors 109. The payment facilitation device 103 is acomputing device located at a business establishment that is connected(wired or wirelessly) to a UC system 101. The payment facilitationdevice 103 may be wired, or wireless, or both, depending on theimplementation of a given embodiment. While a payment facilitationdevice 103 and UC system 101 are specified in this embodiment, it is notrequired that they be precisely in this configuration, and otherconfigurations are possible, including a non-SIP computing deviceconnected to a network without a US system 101. The payment facilitationdevice 103 comprises a screen (not shown) and applications for acustomer information entry portal 104 and a customer identificationconfirmation application 105. The payment facilitation device 103 may bea mobile computing device like a mobile phone or tablet computer or maybe a desktop or tabletop computing device.

The customer information entry portal 104 is an application on thepayment facilitation device 103 that allows an employee of the businessto enter customer details such as name, telephone number, deviceidentifier, bank, debit, or credit card details, payment preferences,and, if necessary, customer account refill limits and customer accountrefill amounts. The device identifier may be any information that allowsthe system to identify the customer mobile device 102, including, butnot limited to, a mobile access control (MAC) address (e.g., a MACaddress for the device's WiFi radio, a MAC address for the device'sBluetooth radio, etc.), the device's 102 serial number, the device'smobile equipment identifier (MEID) or international mobile equipmentidentity (IMEI) number, the integrated circuit card identifier (ICCID)of the subscriber identity module (SIM) card inserted into the customermobile device 102, and the device's 102 secure element identification(SEID) number.

The customer identification and confirmation application 105 is anapplication that provides security in financial transactions by allowingthe employee of the business to visually confirm the identity of thecustomer making a transaction. For example, the payment facilitationdevice at a particular business location may be connected to multiplecustomer devices simultaneously. The customer identification andconfirmation application 105 may display a photo of the user (customer)of each such connected customer device, and the employee may select thedevice of the customer making the transaction by clicking on thecustomer's photo as displayed by the customer identification andconfirmation application 105 on the payment facilitation device 103.

The UC system 101 is a device or service (e.g., online service) thatintegrates different methods of communication (e.g., phone calls, videocalls, short message service (SMS), instant messaging (chat), email) andallows for all of those different methods of communication to beaccessed through a computing device such as a mobile phone or tabletcomputer. A UC system 101 is the modern, and much more flexible andpowerful, form of a private branch exchange (PBX) telephone equipmentsystem that allowed businesses to connect multiple internal telephonesto a single incoming telephone line. In this example, the UC system 101acts as the interface between the payment facilitation device 103, thecustomer mobile devices 102, and the payment facilitation server 200.

A customer mobile device 102 may be connected to the system via anywireless network connection, for example through the Internet 106, amobile (cellular) network 107, or through a local wireless network 108such as WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. In the case of remote connections such asthose made through the Internet 106 or mobile service 107, the locationof a customer mobile device 102 and its location relative to the paymentfacilitation device 103 or other customer mobile devices 102 may beestablished through use of the device's satellite positioning systemhardware (e.g., GPS, GLONASS, Galileo), by identifying the location ofan intermediary device to which the device is connected (e.g., a WiFirouter, etc. In the case of local connections, which typically use shortrange wireless transmissions, it may not be necessary to determine thelocation of the mobile customer device 102 because the short range ofwireless communications establishes that the payment facilitation device103 or other mobile customer devices are nearby. For example, when usinga Bluetooth Class 2 connection to connect to other devices, it will beapparent that the other devices are nearby because Bluetooth Class 2 hasan effective range on the order of 10 meters.

In a typical scenario, the first time a customer enters a businessestablishment with a customer mobile device 102, an employee of thebusiness establishment will enter the customer's information using thecustomer information entry portal 104 and register the customer mobiledevice 102 using the customer mobile device's 102 identification. When acustomer mobile device 102 enters a business establishment, the paymentfacilitation device 103 and customer mobile device 102 willautomatically detect each other and establish a network connection. Thepayment facilitation device 103 will recognize the customer mobiledevice 102 using the customer mobile device's identifier. As thecustomer makes an order, the business's employee will confirm theidentity of the customer using the customer identification confirmationapplication 105. The payment facilitation device connects to the paymentfacilitation server 200, either directly or through the UC system 101,forwards the customer information and order information to the paymentfacilitation server 200. The payment facilitation server 200, checks thecustomer's account and either deducts and appropriate amount from thecustomer's prepaid account or sends the payment details to a paymentprocessor 109 for processing. Once the payment is processed, the paymentfacilitation server 200 sends a confirmation of the payment either tothe payment facilitation device 103, the customer mobile device 102, orboth. In a scenario where the customer is in a remote location from thebusiness establishment (e.g., a phone order or online order), theprocess is much the same except that the first time customer informationentry and mobile device registration occurs remotely, and the employeedoes not visually identify the customer (although other methods ofidentifying the customer may apply, such as personal identificationnumber (PIN) codes, voice print identification, telephone numberidentification, or customer mobile device 102 identifiers).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary architecture for anaspect of zero-step authentication system, the payment facilitationserver 200. The payment facilitation server 200 manages customerinformation and payments from multiple customers. In this example, thepayment facilitation server comprises a customer information database201, a customer identification engine 202, a payment processing manager209, and one or more applications for managing bill splitting, fundtransfers, and account information. Note that, in some embodiments, thebill splitting and fund transfer applications may be applications on thecustomer mobile device 102 instead of on the payment facilitation server200. As the payment facilitation server receives customer informationand device registrations, it stores them in a customer informationdatabase. Such customer information may comprise customer details suchas name, telephone number, device identifier, bank, debit, or creditcard details, payment preferences, and, if necessary, customer accountrefill limits and customer account refill amounts. The device identifiermay be any information that allows the system to identify the customermobile device 102, including, but not limited to, a mobile accesscontrol (MAC) address (e.g., a MAC address for the device's WiFi radio,a MAC address for the device's Bluetooth radio, etc.), the device's 102serial number, the device's mobile equipment identifier (MEID) orinternational mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number, the integratedcircuit card identifier (ICCID) of the subscriber identity module (SIM)card inserted into the customer mobile device 102, and the device's 102secure element identification (SEID) number.

The customer identification engine 202 provides additional security byconfirming the identity of the customer before processing payments. Inthis example, the customer identification engine 202 has three separateidentification methods, a voiceprint identifier 203, a telephone numberidentifier 204, and a device ID identifier 205. The voiceprintidentifier 203 can provide confirmations of customer identities eitherby matching voice samples of specific words and phrases provided by thecustomer as during account creation and device registration or, in amore sophisticated version, may match the customer's voice to any spokenwords and phrases using machine learning algorithms. The telephonenumber identifier 204 receives caller identification (caller ID)information from the UC system 101, and verifies that the phone numberfrom which the order is being made matches the phone number in thecustomer account information. The device ID identifier 205 receives adevice identifier from the UC system 101 and matches it to the deviceidentifier in the customer database 201 to confirm that the device isregistered. In some embodiments, other methods of identifying thecustomer may be used, for example, PIN codes. In some embodiments, twoor more of these identifiers may be used together to confirm thecustomer's identity.

As customer information and order information is received, the paymentfacilitation server 200 checks the customer's account using the customeraccount management application 208 and either deducts and appropriateamount from the customer's prepaid account or sends the payment detailsto the payment processing manager 209, which forwards the paymentrequest to a payment processor 109 for processing. Once the payment isprocessed, the payment facilitation server 200 sends a confirmation ofthe payment either to the payment facilitation device 103, the customermobile device 102, or both.

The bill splitting application 206 receives a bill that is to be sharedby two or more customers (e.g., a restaurant dining bill), the deviceidentifier of two or more customer mobile devices 102, and provides aninterface for those customers to allocate items on the bill between thecustomers. Once each of the customers involved approves the allocation,the bill splitting application forwards each customer's portion of thebill to the payment processing manager 209 The fund transfer application207 operates in a similar manner for fund transfers between customers.Customers involved in the fund transfer specify amounts to betransferred to other customers, and once approved by all customersinvolved in the fund transfer, the fund transfer application forforwards the approved funds transfers to the payment processing manager209 for execution.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary flow of payments 300in an embodiment. When a customer 303 authorizes a transaction (whichauthorization may be pre-approved) through his or her customer mobiledevice 102, the payment authorization is sent to the business 302 at thebusiness' payment facilitation device 103. The payment facilitationdevice 103 of the business 302 sends a payment request to the paymentfacilitation server 200. The payment facilitation server 200 checks thecustomer's pre-paid account 304 to determine whether pre-paid funds areavailable. If such funds are available, a deduction is made from thecustomer pre-paid account 304 in the amount of the authorized payment,and a confirmation is confirmed by the payment facilitation server 200.If sufficient funds are not available in the customer pre-paid account,the account is either refilled or a direct payment request is made. Ineither such case, the payment facilitation server 200 sends a paymentrequest to a payment processor 109, which are financial intermediarieslike Visa and Mastercard, who process transactions on behalf offinancial institutions 301 (i.e., banks). The payment processor 109sends the payment request to a financial institution 301 at which thecustomer 303 has an account. The financial institution 301 receives thepayment request, and sends a payment to the payment processor 109,typically along with a transaction fee. The payment processor 109receives the payment and transaction fee, and forwards the payment tothe payment facilitation server along with a portion of the transactionfee. The payment facilitation server 200 forwards the payment to thebusiness 302, which forwards a confirmation of payment 303 to thecustomer, completing the transaction.

Detailed Description of Exemplary Aspects

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary business/customerinteraction 400 and showing an exemplary screenshot. In this example, acustomer 401 (who already has an account and registered device 402 at abusiness establishment) makes an order. The customer's device 402 andthe payment facilitation device 103 detect each other and establish aconnection when the customer 401 enters the business establishment. Thecustomer's photograph 403 is displayed on the business' paymentfacilitation device 103, along with the customer's information 404 andorder details 405. An employee of the business clicks on the customerphotograph 403 to confirm the identity of the customer 401. Onceconfirmed, the customer device 402 automatically approves payment andreceives confirmation of the payment without the customer having thehandle the device 402. The customer device 402 may remain in thecustomer's pocket, purse, backpack, etc., and does not have to beremoved to complete the transaction.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary bill splitting feature 500and showing an exemplary screenshot. In this example, three customers,Bob 501, Sally 503, and Joe 505, each with their respective mobiledevices 502, 504, and 506, have a meal together at a restaurant and wantto split the bill among themselves. Each customer's mobile device has abill splitting application installed on it, which shows a copy of thebill and the customers who dined together. For example, Bob's 501 mobiledevice 502 shows the bill information 507 for the group on the left-handside of his screen, and a window for himself 508, a window for Sally509, and window for Joe 510 on the right side. The mobile devices 504,506 of Sally 503 and Joe 505 show similar screens. The windows 508, 509,510, each show a photo (or other representation) of the customer, aspace for allocating items from the bill, and a total of the itemsallocated to that customer. As each customer, on his or her respectivemobile device 502, 504, 506, allocates food and drink items from thebill information 507 by clicking on them and dragging them to the windowof a person on the right, the allocation of those food and drink itemsappears in the window of the person to whom the item has been allocated,as indicated by the arrows. For example, the risotto Milanese and whitewine have been allocated to Bob (either by Bob or by one of the othertwo customers), a total due from Bob of $26 is shown, and thisinformation is updated on all three mobile devices 502, 504, 506. Onceall three customers 501, 503, 505 approve the allocation, each person'smobile device 502, 504, 506 processes the payment for the amountallocated to that customer. In some embodiments, unallocated items maybe automatically split among the customers in the group.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing the steps of an exemplary method forregistration of a customer's mobile device and order placement. When acustomer calls restaurant a first time to place an order 601, thecustomer's telephone number is captured using UC telephony equipment,and additional customer information is gathered and entered intodatabase by an employee of the business 602. The customer than makes hisor her order and the order is completed 603. Each time the customermakes a subsequent call to same business to place an order 604, thecustomer's telephone number is captured using UC telephone equipment,and the customer's information is retrieved from a customer databaseusing a customer identification application 605. The customer than makeshis or her order and the order is completed 606 without the customerhaving to provide his or her information. The same procedure is usedwhen a customer physically enters a business establishment, except thatthe registration is performed in person.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing the steps of an exemplary method forzero-step authentication and completion of a transaction. When acustomer enters a business establishment 701, the customer's wirelessdevice and business payment facilitation device detect each other andautomatically establish connection 702. The business paymentfacilitation device retrieves the customer device identifier (ID) anduses the customer device ID to retrieve customer information fromcustomer information database located on a payment facilitation server703. The business payment facilitation device displays customer's photoand information to a restaurant employee, who confirms customer'sidentity by clicking on the photo of the customer 704. The customer theplaces an order 705. When the order is placed, the business paymentfacilitation devices ends payment details to payment facilitationserver, which either deducts amount from customer's pre-paid accountbalance or sends charge to payment processors 706. Optionally, anadditional security step may be inserted wherein the customer's wirelessdevice receives and displays a request for confirmation of the orderfrom the business CIP device and the customer clicks on the displayedrequest to confirm the order 707. Finally, the customer's order iscompleted 708.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram showing the steps of an exemplary method forestablishment of an account and pre-authorization of payments. First, acustomer establishes and account using his or her customer mobile deviceand provides payment details (e.g., credit card, debit card, bankdetails for ACH, etc.) 801. The customer then sets automatic an accountpayment limit, a refill limit, and a refill amount 802. For example, thecustomer may set a payment limit for each transaction at $50, a refilllimit (i.e., minimum account balance below which the account will beautomatically refilled) of $10, and a refill amount of $100. Thecustomer may choose to have such payments sent automatically withouthandling his or her mobile device (zero-step authentication) 803 or maychoose to authorize each payment individually using his or her mobiledevice 804. A customer account management application funds the accountin the amount of the refill amount using payment details 805. Thus, inthis example, the customer has pre-authorized payments of up to $50 pertransaction, and pre-authorized the system to automatically refill hisaccount from the customer's financial institution (or credit card) inthe amount of $100 whenever the account balance falls below $10. Whenthe customer places an order, the customer account managementapplication checks account balance, deducts an amount equal to the orderfor the order (after confirmation, if required), and refills accountbalance using payment information if the account balance falls below therefill limit 806.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram showing the steps of an exemplary method forbill splitting among customers. Each customer mobile device runs anapplication that shows nearby customer devices also using the paymentsystem 901. Customers dining together form a group by selecting oneanother (or accepting a group formation created by one or more of them)902. Each customer's device displays a copy of the itemized bill on oneside of the screen, and a photo (or other representational image) ofeach other customer in the group on the other side of the screen 903.One or more of the customers in the group assigns payment by clickingand dragging items from the itemized bill to the photo (or image) of thecustomer responsible for paying for that item 904. When the group isfinished assigning payments, each customer approves his/her proposedpayment assignments, with unassigned items being distributed equallyamong the customers in the group 905. After all customers in the grouphave approved their payment assignments, the payment system processespayments from each customer's account according to the approved paymentassignments 906.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram showing the steps of an exemplary method forfunds transfer among customers. Each customer mobile device runs anapplication that shows nearby customer devices also using the paymentsystem 1001. Customers wishing to exchange funds form a group byselecting one another (or accepting a group formation created by one ormore of them) 1002. Each customer's device displays a photo (or otherrepresentational image) of each other customer in the group 1003. One ormore of the customers in the group proposes a fund transfer by clickingand dragging from one customer to another, creating an arrow betweenthat pair of customers in the group indicating a direction of transfer,and enters an amount of funds to be transferred 1004. When the group isfinished proposing fund transfers, each customer approves his/herproposed fund transfer(s) 1005. After all customers in the group haveapproved their proposed transfers, the payment system processes paymentsfrom each customer's account according to the approved fund transfers1006.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system architecturefor a zero-step authentication system using biometric authentication. Afacial scanner 1510 such as a digital camera and Application-SpecificIntegrated Circuit (“ASIC”), or a digital camera connected to a personalcomputer, tablet, phone, or other computing device with appropriatesoftware, may be connected to either or both of the internet 1530 or alocal network 1540, sending authentication requests and video or imagedata, and receiving either a success or failure message, or a percentagesimilarity message regarding the match chance of a given customer to astored set of data, from a biometrics verification server hosted overthe internet 1531 or one hosted locally 1541. A voice scanner 1520 mayoperate similarly but rather than operating with a digital camera, thevoice scanner 1520 operates with a microphone that may or may not bepart of a digital camera (such as an embedded webcam that may be usedfor both the facial scanner 1510 as well as the voice scanner 1520), andmay be connected to a separate ASIC or personal computer, tablet, phone,or other computing device, or may be connected to the same computingdevice that the facial scanner 1510 is connected to. The voice scanner1520 may also, in a separate or in a joined network connection with thefacial scanner 1510, be connected over either or both of the internet1530 and a local network 1540 to a remote or local biometricsverification server 1531, 1541, for the purposes of sending receivedbiometrics data including voice data to the servers, and receiving backa match to a user in the server's datastores. A singular or plurality ofpayment processors 1550 are accessible by either or both of thebiometrics scanners 1510, 1520 and accompanying computer systems asapplicable, such as VISA™, MASTERCARD™, PAYPAL™, or others, to allow theverification and execution of customer purchases with a paymentfacilitation server 200 as described in FIG. 2. An authorizationgenerator 1560 retreives customer account preferences, customer history,and restaurant sales information (e.g. restaurant average ticket amount)and determines the amount of money that should be pre-authorized fortransactional purposes using subsets of the retrieved data as inputsinto a machine learned predictive algorithm.

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram showing the steps of an exemplary method forzero-step authentication using biometrics and completion of atransaction. When a customer enters a business establishment 1605, thecustomer's wireless device and business payment facilitation devicedetect each other and automatically establish connection 1610. Thebusiness payment facilitation device retrieves the customer deviceidentifier (ID) and uses the customer device ID to retrieve customerinformation from customer information database located on a paymentfacilitation server 1615. The customer may speak verbally upon enteringthe restaurant or otherwise coming within sufficient range of a voicedetection system, whether it is passive and unintrusive or the customeris encouraged such as from a sign in the doorway saying “please speak,”either to themselves, to the host or hostess, to another member of theirparty, or to someone or something else 1615. This speech, or thecustomer's face as scanned passively without the user initiating anystep of authentication themselves from a facial scanner, or somecombination of the two, may then be utilized to match the customer'sbiometrics to data stored in a customer information database 1620 eitherlocally or over the Internet. The customer the places an order 1625.When the order is placed, the business payment facilitation devices endspayment details to payment facilitation server, which either deductsamount from customer's pre-paid account balance or sends charge topayment processors 1630. Optionally, an additional security step may beinserted wherein the customer's wireless device receives and displays arequest for confirmation of the order from the business CIP device andthe customer clicks on the displayed request to confirm the order 1635.Finally, the customer's order is completed 1640.

Hardware Architecture

Generally, the techniques disclosed herein may be implemented onhardware or a combination of software and hardware. For example, theymay be implemented in an operating system kernel, in a separate userprocess, in a library package bound into network applications, on aspecially constructed machine, on an application-specific integratedcircuit (ASIC), or on a network interface card.

Software/hardware hybrid implementations of at least some of the aspectsdisclosed herein may be implemented on a programmable network-residentmachine (which should be understood to include intermittently connectednetwork-aware machines) selectively activated or reconfigured by acomputer program stored in memory. Such network devices may havemultiple network interfaces that may be configured or designed toutilize different types of network communication protocols. A generalarchitecture for some of these machines may be described herein in orderto illustrate one or more exemplary means by which a given unit offunctionality may be implemented. According to specific aspects, atleast some of the features or functionalities of the various aspectsdisclosed herein may be implemented on one or more general-purposecomputers associated with one or more networks, such as for example anend-user computer system, a client computer, a network server or otherserver system, a mobile computing device (e.g., tablet computing device,mobile phone, smartphone, laptop, or other appropriate computingdevice), a consumer electronic device, a music player, or any othersuitable electronic device, router, switch, or other suitable device, orany combination thereof. In at least some aspects, at least some of thefeatures or functionalities of the various aspects disclosed herein maybe implemented in one or more virtualized computing environments (e.g.,network computing clouds, virtual machines hosted on one or morephysical computing machines, or other appropriate virtual environments).

Referring now to FIG. 11, there is shown a block diagram depicting anexemplary computing device 10 suitable for implementing at least aportion of the features or functionalities disclosed herein. Computingdevice 10 may be, for example, any one of the computing machines listedin the previous paragraph, or indeed any other electronic device capableof executing software- or hardware-based instructions according to oneor more programs stored in memory. Computing device 10 may be configuredto communicate with a plurality of other computing devices, such asclients or servers, over communications networks such as a wide areanetwork a metropolitan area network, a local area network, a wirelessnetwork, the Internet, or any other network, using known protocols forsuch communication, whether wireless or wired.

In one aspect, computing device 10 includes one or more centralprocessing units (CPU) 12, one or more interfaces 15, and one or morebusses 14 (such as a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus). Whenacting under the control of appropriate software or firmware, CPU 12 maybe responsible for implementing specific functions associated with thefunctions of a specifically configured computing device or machine. Forexample, in at least one aspect, a computing device 10 may be configuredor designed to function as a server system utilizing CPU 12, localmemory 11 and/or remote memory 16, and interface(s) 15. In at least oneaspect, CPU 12 may be caused to perform one or more of the differenttypes of functions and/or operations under the control of softwaremodules or components, which for example, may include an operatingsystem and any appropriate applications software, drivers, and the like.

CPU 12 may include one or more processors 13 such as, for example, aprocessor from one of the Intel, ARM, Qualcomm, and AMD families ofmicroprocessors. In some aspects, processors 13 may include speciallydesigned hardware such as application-specific integrated circuits(ASICs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories(EEPROMs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and so forth, forcontrolling operations of computing device 10. In a particular aspect, alocal memory 11 (such as non-volatile random access memory (RAM) and/orread-only memory (ROM), including for example one or more levels ofcached memory) may also form part of CPU 12. However, there are manydifferent ways in which memory may be coupled to system 10. Memory 11may be used for a variety of purposes such as, for example, cachingand/or storing data, programming instructions, and the like. It shouldbe further appreciated that CPU 12 may be one of a variety ofsystem-on-a-chip (SOC) type hardware that may include additionalhardware such as memory or graphics processing chips, such as a QUALCOMMSNAPDRAGON™ or SAMSUNG EXYNOS™ CPU as are becoming increasingly commonin the art, such as for use in mobile devices or integrated devices.

As used herein, the term “processor” is not limited merely to thoseintegrated circuits referred to in the art as a processor, a mobileprocessor, or a microprocessor, but broadly refers to a microcontroller,a microcomputer, a programmable logic controller, anapplication-specific integrated circuit, and any other programmablecircuit.

In one aspect, interfaces 15 are provided as network interface cards(NICs). Generally, NICs control the sending and receiving of datapackets over a computer network; other types of interfaces 15 may forexample support other peripherals used with computing device 10. Amongthe interfaces that may be provided are Ethernet interfaces, frame relayinterfaces, cable interfaces, DSL interfaces, token ring interfaces,graphics interfaces, and the like. In addition, various types ofinterfaces may be provided such as, for example, universal serial bus(USB), Serial, Ethernet, FIREWIRE™, THUNDERBOLT™, PCI, parallel, radiofrequency (RF), BLUETOOTH™, near-field communications (e.g., usingnear-field magnetics), 802.11 (WiFi), frame relay, TCP/IP, ISDN, fastEthernet interfaces, Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, Serial ATA (SATA) orexternal SATA (ESATA) interfaces, high-definition multimedia interface(HDMI), digital visual interface (DVI), analog or digital audiointerfaces, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) interfaces, high-speedserial interface (HSSI) interfaces, Point of Sale (POS) interfaces,fiber data distributed interfaces (FDDIs), and the like. Generally, suchinterfaces 15 may include physical ports appropriate for communicationwith appropriate media. In some cases, they may also include anindependent processor (such as a dedicated audio or video processor, asis common in the art for high-fidelity A/V hardware interfaces) and, insome instances, volatile and/or non-volatile memory (e.g., RAM).

Although the system shown in FIG. 11 illustrates one specificarchitecture for a computing device 10 for implementing one or more ofthe aspects described herein, it is by no means the only devicearchitecture on which at least a portion of the features and techniquesdescribed herein may be implemented. For example, architectures havingone or any number of processors 13 may be used, and such processors 13may be present in a single device or distributed among any number ofdevices. In one aspect, a single processor 13 handles communications aswell as routing computations, while in other aspects a separatededicated communications processor may be provided. In various aspects,different types of features or functionalities may be implemented in asystem according to the aspect that includes a client device (such as atablet device or smartphone running client software) and server systems(such as a server system described in more detail below).

Regardless of network device configuration, the system of an aspect mayemploy one or more memories or memory modules (such as, for example,remote memory block 16 and local memory 11) configured to store data,program instructions for the general-purpose network operations, orother information relating to the functionality of the aspects describedherein (or any combinations of the above). Program instructions maycontrol execution of or comprise an operating system and/or one or moreapplications, for example. Memory 16 or memories 11, 16 may also beconfigured to store data structures, configuration data, encryptiondata, historical system operations information, or any other specific orgeneric non-program information described herein.

Because such information and program instructions may be employed toimplement one or more systems or methods described herein, at least somenetwork device aspects may include nontransitory machine-readablestorage media, which, for example, may be configured or designed tostore program instructions, state information, and the like forperforming various operations described herein. Examples of suchnontransitory machine-readable storage media include, but are notlimited to, magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, andmagnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROM disks; magneto-optical mediasuch as optical disks, and hardware devices that are speciallyconfigured to store and perform program instructions, such as read-onlymemory devices (ROM), flash memory (as is common in mobile devices andintegrated systems), solid state drives (SSD) and “hybrid SSD” storagedrives that may combine physical components of solid state and hard diskdrives in a single hardware device (as are becoming increasingly commonin the art with regard to personal computers), memristor memory, randomaccess memory (RAM), and the like. It should be appreciated that suchstorage means may be integral and non-removable (such as RAM hardwaremodules that may be soldered onto a motherboard or otherwise integratedinto an electronic device), or they may be removable such as swappableflash memory modules (such as “thumb drives” or other removable mediadesigned for rapidly exchanging physical storage devices),“hot-swappable” hard disk drives or solid state drives, removableoptical storage discs, or other such removable media, and that suchintegral and removable storage media may be utilized interchangeably.Examples of program instructions include both object code, such as maybe produced by a compiler, machine code, such as may be produced by anassembler or a linker, byte code, such as may be generated by forexample a JAVA™ compiler and may be executed using a Java virtualmachine or equivalent, or files containing higher level code that may beexecuted by the computer using an interpreter (for example, scriptswritten in Python, Perl, Ruby, Groovy, or any other scripting language).

In some aspects, systems may be implemented on a standalone computingsystem. Referring now to FIG. 12, there is shown a block diagramdepicting a typical exemplary architecture of one or more aspects orcomponents thereof on a standalone computing system. Computing device 20includes processors 21 that may run software that carry out one or morefunctions or applications of aspects, such as for example a clientapplication 24. Processors 21 may carry out computing instructions undercontrol of an operating system 22 such as, for example, a version ofMICROSOFT WINDOWS™ operating system, APPLE macOS™ or iOS™ operatingsystems, some variety of the Linux operating system, ANDROID™ operatingsystem, or the like. In many cases, one or more shared services 23 maybe operable in system 20, and may be useful for providing commonservices to client applications 24. Services 23 may for example beWINDOWS™ services, user-space common services in a Linux environment, orany other type of common service architecture used with operating system21. Input devices 28 may be of any type suitable for receiving userinput, including for example a keyboard, touchscreen, microphone (forexample, for voice input), mouse, touchpad, trackball, or anycombination thereof. Output devices 27 may be of any type suitable forproviding output to one or more users, whether remote or local to system20, and may include for example one or more screens for visual output,speakers, printers, or any combination thereof. Memory 25 may berandom-access memory having any structure and architecture known in theart, for use by processors 21, for example to run software. Storagedevices 26 may be any magnetic, optical, mechanical, memristor, orelectrical storage device for storage of data in digital form (such asthose described above, referring to FIG. 11). Examples of storagedevices 26 include flash memory, magnetic hard drive, CD-ROM, and/or thelike.

In some aspects, systems may be implemented on a distributed computingnetwork, such as one having any number of clients and/or servers.Referring now to FIG. 13, there is shown a block diagram depicting anexemplary architecture 30 for implementing at least a portion of asystem according to one aspect on a distributed computing network.According to the aspect, any number of clients 33 may be provided. Eachclient 33 may run software for implementing client-side portions of asystem; clients may comprise a system 20 such as that illustrated inFIG. 12. In addition, any number of servers 32 may be provided forhandling requests received from one or more clients 33. Clients 33 andservers 32 may communicate with one another via one or more electronicnetworks 31, which may be in various aspects any of the Internet, a widearea network, a mobile telephony network (such as CDMA or GSM cellularnetworks), a wireless network (such as WiFi, WiMAX, LTE, and so forth),or a local area network (or indeed any network topology known in theart; the aspect does not prefer any one network topology over anyother). Networks 31 may be implemented using any known networkprotocols, including for example wired and/or wireless protocols.

In addition, in some aspects, servers 32 may call external services 37when needed to obtain additional information, or to refer to additionaldata concerning a particular call. Communications with external services37 may take place, for example, via one or more networks 31. In variousaspects, external services 37 may comprise web-enabled services orfunctionality related to or installed on the hardware device itself. Forexample, in one aspect where client applications 24 are implemented on asmartphone or other electronic device, client applications 24 may obtaininformation stored in a server system 32 in the cloud or on an externalservice 37 deployed on one or more of a particular enterprise's oruser's premises. In addition to local storage on servers 32, remotestorage 38 may be accessible through the network(s) 31.

In some aspects, clients 33 or servers 32 (or both) may make use of oneor more specialized services or appliances that may be deployed locallyor remotely across one or more networks 31. For example, one or moredatabases 34 in either local or remote storage 38 may be used orreferred to by one or more aspects. It should be understood by onehaving ordinary skill in the art that databases in storage 34 may bearranged in a wide variety of architectures and using a wide variety ofdata access and manipulation means. For example, in various aspects oneor more databases in storage 34 may comprise a relational databasesystem using a structured query language (SQL), while others maycomprise an alternative data storage technology such as those referredto in the art as “NoSQL” (for example, HADOOP CASSANDRA™, GOOGLEBIGTABLE™, and so forth). In some aspects, variant databasearchitectures such as column-oriented databases, in-memory databases,clustered databases, distributed databases, or even flat file datarepositories may be used according to the aspect. It will be appreciatedby one having ordinary skill in the art that any combination of known orfuture database technologies may be used as appropriate, unless aspecific database technology or a specific arrangement of components isspecified for a particular aspect described herein. Moreover, it shouldbe appreciated that the term “database” as used herein may refer to aphysical database machine, a cluster of machines acting as a singledatabase system, or a logical database within an overall databasemanagement system. Unless a specific meaning is specified for a givenuse of the term “database”, it should be construed to mean any of thesesenses of the word, all of which are understood as a plain meaning ofthe term “database” by those having ordinary skill in the art.

Similarly, some aspects may make use of one or more security systems 36and configuration systems 35. Security and configuration management arecommon information technology (IT) and web functions, and some amount ofeach are generally associated with any IT or web systems. It should beunderstood by one having ordinary skill in the art that anyconfiguration or security subsystems known in the art now or in thefuture may be used in conjunction with aspects without limitation,unless a specific security 36 or configuration system 35 or approach isspecifically required by the description of any specific aspect.

FIG. 14 shows an exemplary overview of a computer system 40 as may beused in any of the various locations throughout the system. It isexemplary of any computer that may execute code to process data. Variousmodifications and changes may be made to computer system 40 withoutdeparting from the broader scope of the system and method disclosedherein. Central processor unit (CPU) 41 is connected to bus 42, to whichbus is also connected memory 43, nonvolatile memory 44, display 47,input/output (I/O) unit 48, and network interface card (NIC) 53. I/Ounit 48 may, typically, be connected to peripherals such as a keyboard49, pointing device 50, hard disk 52, real-time clock 51, a camera 57,and other peripheral devices. NIC 53 connects to network 54, which maybe the Internet or a local network, which local network may or may nothave connections to the Internet. The system may be connected to othercomputing devices through the network via a router 55, wireless localarea network 56, or any other network connection. Also shown as part ofsystem 40 is power supply unit 45 connected, in this example, to a mainalternating current (AC) supply 46. Not shown are batteries that couldbe present, and many other devices and modifications that are well knownbut are not applicable to the specific novel functions of the currentsystem and method disclosed herein. It should be appreciated that someor all components illustrated may be combined, such as in variousintegrated applications, for example Qualcomm or Samsungsystem-on-a-chip (SOC) devices, or whenever it may be appropriate tocombine multiple capabilities or functions into a single hardware device(for instance, in mobile devices such as smartphones, video gameconsoles, in-vehicle computer systems such as navigation or multimediasystems in automobiles, or other integrated hardware devices).

In various aspects, functionality for implementing systems or methods ofvarious aspects may be distributed among any number of client and/orserver components. For example, various software modules may beimplemented for performing various functions in connection with thesystem of any particular aspect, and such modules may be variouslyimplemented to run on server and/or client components.

The skilled person will be aware of a range of possible modifications ofthe various aspects described above. Accordingly, the present inventionis defined by the claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for zero-step authentication oftransactions using biometrics, comprising: a database comprisingcustomer information, the customer information comprising: a list ofregistered wireless mobile devices; a device identifier for eachregistered wireless mobile device; a photograph of a customer associatedwith each registered wireless mobile device; a pre-paid account balancefor each registered wireless mobile device; and payment details for thecustomer associated with each registered wireless mobile device; and apayment facilitation device comprising a first memory, a firstprocessor, and a first plurality of programming instructions stored inthe first memory, and operating on the first processor, wherein thefirst plurality of programming instructions, when operating on theprocessor, cause the payment facilitation device to: detect a registeredwireless mobile device; establish a wireless connection with theregistered wireless mobile device; obtain a device identifier for theregistered wireless mobile device; send the device identifier to apayment facilitation server; receive customer information for theregistered wireless mobile device from the payment facilitation server;display the photograph of the customer associated with the registeredwireless mobile device for confirmation of the identity of the customer;transmit transaction details to the registered wireless mobile devicefor approval, the transaction details comprising a transaction amount;receive authentication of the transaction details from the customermobile device; and send the transaction details to a paymentfacilitation server for processing of the transaction; a paymentfacilitation server comprising a second memory, a second processor, anda second plurality of programming instructions stored in the secondmemory, and operating on the second processor, wherein the secondplurality of programming instructions, when operating on the secondprocessor, cause the payment facilitation server to: receive the deviceidentifier from the payment facilitation device; retrieve the customerinformation associated with the registered wireless mobile device fromthe database; send the customer information to the payment facilitationdevice; receive the transaction details from the payment facilitationdevice; check the pre-paid account balance of the customer associatedwith the registered wireless mobile device; if the account balanceexceeds transaction amount, deduct the transaction amount from theaccount balance; or if the transaction amount exceeds the accountbalance, send the transaction details to a payment processor forprocessing; at least one of either or both of an audio or video inputdevice; and a biometrics verification server comprising a third memory,a third processor, and a third plurality of programming instructionsstored in the third memory, and operating on the third processor,wherein the third plurality of programming instructions, when operatingon the third processor, cause the biometrics verification server to:receive either or both audio or video data from an input source over anetwork; process the received data as either or both voice or facialbiometric data; match received data with stored data; and respond with apositive or negative match to the input source.
 2. The system of claim 1further comprising a unified communications system which acts as acommon intermediary device through which the payment facilitationdevice, the payment facilitation server, and registered wireless mobiledevice communicate.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least oneaudio or video input device and biometrics verification server are alllocated on at least one computer device that is connected to a localnetwork.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the biometrics verificationserver receives input and sends output over the Internet.
 5. A methodfor zero-step authentication of transactions using biometrics,comprising the steps of: storing customer information in a database, thecustomer information comprising: a list of registered wireless mobiledevices; a device identifier for each registered wireless mobile device;a photograph of a customer associated with each registered wirelessmobile device; a pre-paid account balance for each registered wirelessmobile device; and payment details for the customer associated with eachregistered wireless mobile device; and performing the following stepsusing a payment facilitation device, the payment facilitation devicecomprising a first memory, a first processor, and a first plurality ofprogramming instructions: detecting a registered wireless mobile device;establishing a wireless connection with the registered wireless mobiledevice; obtaining a device identifier for the registered wireless mobiledevice; sending the device identifier to a payment facilitation server;receiving customer information for the registered wireless mobile devicefrom the payment facilitation server; displaying the photograph of thecustomer associated with the registered wireless mobile device forconfirmation of the identity of the customer; transmitting transactiondetails to the registered wireless mobile device for approval, thetransaction details comprising a transaction amount; receivingauthentication of the transaction details from the customer mobiledevice; and sending the transaction details to a payment facilitationserver for processing of the transaction; and performing the followingsteps using a payment facilitation server, the payment facilitationserver comprising a second memory, a second processor, and a secondplurality of programming instructions: receiving the device identifierfrom the payment facilitation device; retrieving the customerinformation associated with the registered wireless mobile device fromthe database; sending the customer information to the paymentfacilitation device; receiving the transaction details from the paymentfacilitation device; checking the pre-paid account balance of thecustomer associated with the registered wireless mobile device; if theaccount balance exceeds transaction amount, deducting the transactionamount from the account balance; or if the transaction amount exceedsthe account balance, sending the transaction details to a paymentprocessor for processing; receiving audio or video input, from at leastone of either or both of an audio or video input device; receiving audioor video data from an input source over a network, using a biometricsverification server; processing the received data as voice or facialbiometric data, using a biometrics verification server; matchingreceived data with stored data, using a biometrics verification server;and responding with a positive or negative match to the input source,using a biometrics verification server.
 6. The method of claim 5 furthercomprising the step of using a unified communications system as a commonintermediary device through which the payment facilitation device, thepayment facilitation server, and registered wireless mobile devicecommunicate.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one audio orvideo input device and biometrics verification server are all located onat least one computer device that is connected to a local network. 8.The method of claim 5, wherein the biometrics verification serverreceives input and sends output over the Internet.